You won’t believe this – SpaceX just sent the first-ever text messages using its new Starlink satellites and T-Mobile’s network! These modified satellites launched just over a week ago have special direct-to-device tech that lets basic cell phones connect directly to space. Wild right?
The goal is to give T-Mobile customers service even when they’re off the grid in rural or remote areas. Tests started this week and the companies say it worked flawlessly, exchanging texts between regular phones on the ground and the satellites zipping overhead at insane speeds.
T-Mobile is hoping to roll out texting services publicly in 2024, with voice, data and IoT to follow in 2025. This could be a total game changer, letting people stay in touch from anywhere by putting a cellular tower in the sky, as T-Mobile’s CEO put it. No more dead zones in the middle of the ocean or mountains!
It’s not quite as simple as a tower though. The satellites are moving so fast that the connection has to hand off between them perfectly. Plus phones aren’t designed to transmit to space, so technical challenges abound. But if anyone can pull it off, it’s the rocket scientists at SpaceX!
SpaceX isn’t the only one trying this either. AT&T recently made the first satellite-connected phone call with an unmodified smartphone too. But T-Mobile and SpaceX are leading the pack to connect the world by bringing cell service everywhere on Earth…and above it! This test proves the sky’s the limit for mobile communication. Let’s see what cosmic connections come next!
